Customer Reviews

Poems To Count On (Grades 1-3)

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As a fourth grade teacher in a low-performing school,I have found that many of my students have difficulty with math "word" or "story" problems. Because some of the students struggle with reading comprehension, combining reading with math often creates a high level of anxiety. I have noticed that using literature and poetry as a basis for math problems helps lessen the anxiety and increase the chance for success. The poems in this book are silly and fun, and tell exaggerated stories about topics children enjoy and relate to: candy, animals, costumes, cleaning messy rooms, etc. The students laugh and enjoy the poems, and are less intimidated to tackle the math concepts than they might be with a traditional "word" problem. Each poem is accompanied by teaching suggestions for classroom and home-connection activities, and most of the poems can be extended for higher-achieving students and fourth or even fifth graders (the book labels itself as grades 1-3). There are a lot of different ways to use the poems - it just takes some imagination. I like "Poems to Count On" because it is one of those much needed windows for students who close the door.

I bought this book because I was starting a math club at my son's school. I was hoping that it would have rhymes that would stick in the kids' minds so that they could remember their math facts. Instead, the poems take some interpretation, and after that is done, one finds that the poem was about a circle (for example). But it does not teach anything about the circle. I thought the book would be useless, but we have had some fun with it. The children take turns reading the poems aloud, while the students listening say things such as, "Huh?" or "What?", or they just fall out of their chairs laughing. This book doesn't help with math, but it gives the kids a good laugh.